I remember my mom sharing this with me (although I think I was older than the target audience at the time), so I still hear her voice whenever I read “Koala Lou, I DO love you!” Needless to say, my kids enjoyed this sweet tale of a koala who needs to remember that she’s special to her mom just because, not because of anything she does. I enjoyed the nostalgia, and also thinking of this from the mom’s point of view now, too.

This was a story that we picked up at random, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. It’s a fairly simple story of an elderly woman and her beloved pet pig. The pig isn’t well-liked by the next-door neighbors until she helps her owner during an emergency. It’s sweet, just a little strange, and therefore unique in a non-showy way. We didn’t read it over and over, but I would check it out again, and it seemed like my kids enjoyed it, too.

Our kindergartner brought this one home from the school media center, and even though it’s old, we all enjoyed it. It follows head zookeeper Mr. Scott through his day of work, and presents a nice picture of all the different things zookeepers do.

I love Mr. Putter and Tabby (I probably like them better than the better known Henry and Mudge series by the same author), so I am working on getting my children to enjoy them, too. So far, they seem to like them fine, but aren’t yet asking for multiple rereads, so more work needs to be done!

In this installment, Mr. Putter decides that he and Tabby nap too much, so he has them join a baseball league for seniors. His friend Mrs. Teaberry and her dog Zeke also join, with amusing results. Having now sat through many a T-ball game, I enjoyed reading about the other end of the lifetime sports spectrum.